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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000012 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, EAP/K, PRM, INR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION 
TAGS: PREF PGOV PINR GTIP KN KS CH
SUBJECT: NORTH KOREAN BORDER-CROSSERS: MORE PRC THINKING; 
YANBIAN/SHENYANG SITREP 
 
REF: A. (A) SHENYANG 7 
     ¶B. (B) 07 SHENYANG 196 
     ¶C. (C) 07 SHENYANG 229 
 
SHENYANG 00000012  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. 
REASONS: 1.4(B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The small group of specialists researching 
North Korean border-crossers for the PRC government largely 
endorses Chinese policy on the issue, even if small 
differences exist.  One researcher said a PRC "transit 
corridor" permitting North Koreans to quietly traverse 
Chinese territory for a third country would undermine PRC- 
DPRK and PRC-ROK relations.  Contacts in frigid borderland 
Jilin anecdotally report fewer new arrivals in early 2008 
compared to the same period in 2007, while in Shenyang, a 
former Korean prisoner of war and nine others living in the 
ROK Consulate await PRC permission to depart for Seoul. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) Poloff traveled January 7-11 to Changchun, capital 
of Jilin Province, as well as to several points in the 
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, including Yanji, 
Tumen and Nanping.  This is the second in a two-part update 
on the PRC-DPRK border in late 2007 and early 2008; the 
first report (ref A) focused on politico-economic issues. 
 
PRC RESEARCHER ON NK BORDER-CROSSERS, "TRANSIT CORRIDOR" 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
¶3. (C) The handful of specialists sanctioned to research 
North Korean border-crossers on behalf of the PRC 
government largely endorses Chinese policy on the issue, 
according to one of the cohort's foremost researchers. 
Asked about the state of the internal debate on policy 
recommendations and potential alternatives, the Jilin 
Academy of Social Sciences' ZHOU Weiping (STRICTLY PROTECT; 
see refs B and C for background and recent discussions) 
during an unofficial meeting in Changchun on January 10 
explained to Poloff that she and her colleagues generally 
agree with the political necessity of continuing China's 
policy of repatriation except in some humanitarian cases, 
even if many acknowledge the policy's human costs.  Some 
researchers may quibble on the margins of the apparently 
less-than-dynamic policy debate, but differences are 
generally contained within a narrow spectrum, she noted 
without elaborating on fault lines. 
 
¶4. (C) Queried about the possibility of Beijing quietly 
opening a "transit corridor" that would permit North Korean 
border-crossers to traverse PRC territory for a third 
country (e.g., from the PRC-DPRK border to the PRC- 
Mongolian border), Zhou replied that such a measure would 
be of limited utility because it would simultaneously 
undermine relations with both the DPRK and the ROK.  The 
PRC would lose valuable political leverage with the DPRK-- 
something Beijing does not want--and the probable surge in 
third-country asylum-seeking would overwhelm Seoul's 
capacity to process and absorb new North Koreans, thereby 
straining PRC-ROK relations.  She noted that during the 
high tide of publicized intrusions by North Koreans into 
Beijing's diplomatic compounds (i.e., 2002-2003), some PRC 
government scholars discussed the merits of a de facto 
loosening that would squeeze the ROK with a flood of new 
arrivals.  Zhou did not say how much traction the idea ever 
gained in policy circles. 
 
¶5. (C) Government specialists on North Korean border- 
crosser issues and decisionmakers alike remain in favor of 
repatriation.  Zhou argued that mitigating some of the 
humanitarian downside is the fact that some 
officials/police along the border do not actively seek to 
arrest/repatriate--indeed, they benignly neglect--North 
Koreans illegally in the PRC.  So too does the assistance 
offered to border-crossers by many borderland Chinese, 
often because of historical kinship ties.  She added that 
over one-half of Yanbian's ethnic Koreans have family 
connections in either North or South Korea. 
 
SHENYANG 00000012  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6. (C) Questioned about the views of provincial 
policymakers, Zhou replied that in her experience, 
provincial leaders do not generally question current policy 
toward North Korean border-crossers, in part because they 
have no decision-making authority on the issue, even at the 
local level.  Authority remains the province of Beijing and 
the People's Liberation Army/People's Armed Police.  Zhou 
claimed central leaders remain interested in the issue and, 
like provincial leaders, receive reports from the Liaoning 
and Jilin social-science academies, along with those from 
other national institutions. 
 
¶7. (C) (NOTE: Zhou's comments generally track with remarks 
we heard from other northeastern Chinese government 
specialists engaged in research border-crossing, including 
LU Chao (STRICTLY PROTECT) and WU Jianhua (STRICTLY 
PROTECT), both North Korea experts at the Liaoning Academy 
of Social Sciences.  END NOTE.) 
 
BORDER-CROSSERS IN YANBIAN AND SHENYANG 
--------------------------------------- 
¶8. (C) YANBIAN.  A frigid winter has fallen upon the PRC- 
DPRK border region, though many sections of the Tumen River 
have yet to completely freeze over, especially in wider 
stretches of the river.  Anecdotally contacts reported 
relatively few new North Korean arrivals.  Father Jin 
(STRICTLY PROTECT) of the Ping'an Church in Yanji, which 
for years has offered succor to border-crossers, told 
Poloff on January 9 that for the first time in many 
winters, December 2007 and early January 2008 saw not a 
single North Korean come to his church for help.  He knew 
of no arrivals among his neighbors or worshipers.  Yanbian 
University DPRK expert GAO Jingzhu (STRICTLY PROTECT) on 
January 8 claimed only small numbers of arrivals, but 
forecasted an uptick once the Tumen River freezes 
completely in the weeks to come.  Farther north in Tumen, 
Vice Mayor Yan Zhihong (STRICTLY PROTECT) acknowledged 
small numbers of arrivals within his city limits this 
winter, and told Poloff on January 8 of a recent visit to 
the city's holding facility dedicated to North Korean 
border-crossers, situated in front of a detention center 
for domestic criminals on the outskirts of town.  Yan noted 
that security officials at the facility segregate the North 
Koreans into groups/cells based on time spent in China-- 
under one year, 3 years, 5 years, and so on.  He suggested 
that segregation is practiced to prevent North Koreans 
detainees from swapping information that might in the 
future help them elude PRC authorities while in China. 
 
¶9. (C) SHENYANG.  Farther south in Liaoning Province, ten 
North Koreans live in the ROK's Shenyang consulate. 
Residents include at least one former prisoner of war (POW) 
and several of his family members, according to Consul KIM 
Jong Han (STRICTLY PROTECT), who recently attended a North 
Korean asylum-seeker-workshop in Bangkok convened by the 
ROKG for its Asia-based diplomats handling the North Korean 
refugee account at their respective posts.  Kim told Poloff 
on January 7 that PRC processing of his Consulate's North 
Korean residents was taking longer than expected--usually 
near, or in excess of, one year.  Relatively "expedited" 
processing for special cases like POWs, however, remains 
three-to-four months, he noted.  A short walk away, seven 
North Koreans remain in the Japanese Consulate.  Japanese 
officials in December had once been hopeful several of 
their more pressing cases would receive PRC exit permission 
on humanitarian grounds before the end of 2007. 
WICKMAN